Tendonitis anyone?

emileesgram
emileesgram Posts: 141 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Has anyone experienced tendonitis? I have been suffering for about three months now with no improvement. I have had to stop all upper body exercises and I feel depressed and defeated. I am in chronic pain and it is effecting my job and my everyday life. I have no strength in my right arm. I have done exercises, iced the area, taken high doses of Aleve and after no improvement my dr. wants me to try physical therapy. Most people I have talked to doubt that will help and my copayment is quite high. My other up option is a cortisone shot which I have heard negative feedback from others. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
    I had horrible tendonitis in my hand, to the point where I couldn't even pick anything up with that hand because it was between my thumb and my pointer finger. I got a cortisone shot and the pain almost disappeared immediately and did go away completely by the end of that day. It's been 6+ years now and I have not had an issue since.
  • ambootcamp
    ambootcamp Posts: 27 Member
    I have had a few tendonitis issues over the years. About 8 years ago, after doing a ridiculous amount of gardening I developed a very painful tendonitis in my left forearm....I used a brace and babied it for a couple months and it slowly improved - it will occasionally flare up with over use still - but never to the original extent.

    Two years ago I ended up having surgery on my thumb to release a tendon that was swollen and causing me pain and the inability to use my thumb at all. It is called having a trigger finger and my thumb would not unbend - it was horrible. All fixed with a simple surgery - the surgeon said if I had come in earlier that cortisone might have fixed it.

    Last December I experienced tendonitis in my right lower leg - it was bothersome and lasted about 6 months. I was ready to give up exercising because it was so painful. The doctor really couldn't offer me anything except encouraging me to stretch a lot after exercise. Well, that was the ticket to healing - I stretched ALL THE TIME - all day long when ever I thought about it - it is now almost gone and I am incredibly grateful!

    Bottom line - I think I have weak tendons that are prone to injury. Now I remember to stretch, stretch and stretch again after exercise - I am hoping that will be the end of that :) So, my advice to you would be to stretch gently the affected area many times during the day - also, I wouldn't be afraid of the cortisone shot - I have friends that have found great relief in them. Don't give up hope - take your vitamins and do whatever exercise you can :)

    ps. This is for chronic tendonitis only - acute tendonitis should be rested (such as wearing the brace after my gardening problem).
  • cats847
    cats847 Posts: 131
    I had tendonitis in my elbow for about a month and a half now, but it started to go away on its own without medical treatment. During my tendonitis I did a lot of research and it seems to me like physical therapy is a pretty good idea. However, I have no first-hand experience with it. I just heard and read positive things about physical therapy from others. If you can afford it, maybe it would be a good idea to try it, but it's up to you...
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    Tendonitis is inflammation, and since ice and anti-inflammatory medication didn't help, it's possible you have something other than tendonitis?

    Where is the pain exactly? And what started it?
  • GymPoet
    GymPoet Posts: 107 Member
    Not a medical professional at all, so just speaking from my own experience here: Tendonitis can take years to heal--I am told this is because there is relatively low blood supplied to them, versus other tissues, and therefore tendons regenerate much more slowly.) I think the first year I tried to heal my own tendonitis actually hurt it worse--stretching it too much too soon in the wrong ways. Then I let it alone, and that rest helped a lot. Finally, re-engaging with exercises from a physical therapist cleared it up. All in all--about 3 years. But I went to relatively few PT appointments--once I got the hang of the exercises, I did them on my own. Hopefully you get a shorter process, but I still think it takes awhile.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    I get tendonitis fairly often (I do have bad tendons: EDS), and I have to completely rest whatever tendon is acting up. Like don't do the motions that caused it at all for a while. How's your job with yours? Usually that's the hardest part to be able to change, and it's awful.

    PT will use cool technologies that may help, like TENS or ultrasonic things, etc. I always had the same results (not total at all) with acupuncture. Rest was the biggest thing for me.

    If you have weakness, you may have nerve issues starting from it. You do need to watch that very carefully :(
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    I have tendonitis in both my wrists. Most days it's fine but some days it's just not happy and even carrying a glass of water is difficult, some days impossable. When it does flare up, I just take Motrin 800s and limit movement for a few days to a few weeks. Ice helps to. My doc gave me some PT stuff I can try but nothing really worked, just made is worse (Navy doctors :grumble: )

    My husband had a cortizone injection in his elbow (tennis elbow) and it made his toes curl and he almost cried. He said he would NEVER get another one of those again. It hurt that bad I guess.

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